Treasure Hunting represents the very essence of what makes Ultima Online the greatest virtual world ever created. Within the profession of Treasure Hunting is embodied cooperation, camaraderie, rewards, and a full sense of accomplishment that quite possibly is unmatched by any of the other professions in Britannia. Best of all, one may be a well-known, respected treasure hunter at the absolute initiate-level ability of the profession. In addition, one can even follow many paths within the ranks of the Treasure Hunter. This essay will concentrate on just one path, what is commonly called the "Pure" Treasure Hunter For-Hire.

What is a Treasure Hunter?

A Treasure Hunter, by definition is one who hunts treasure. In Ultima Online, it is any person who can decode "a tattered map" by use of the Cartography skill, which becomes a treasure map which may only be "dug up" by that individual. Whether the 'hunter is hired to decode and dig up someone else's map, or the hunter purchases or otherwise acquires a map is irrelevant; the actual act of decoding, searching, and then digging up the treasure defines the professional Treasure Hunter.

What is a "Pure" Treasure Hunter?

The pure treasure hunter is a role-player in the most direct sense. The Pure Treasure Hunter ("T-Hunter") does not use spells to unlock or untrap chests; instead, they use the skill set given (Cartography, Lockpicking, Detect Hidden, and Remove Trap.) Since two of those skills (Lockpicking and Remove Traps) may be substituted for magery for Level 1 or 2 chests, the skills are sometimes classified as unnecessary, only the role-playing Pure T-Hunter uses these skills as if those skills represented the only ways to be a T-Hunter. In addition, The Pure T-Hunter is the one most commonly found role-playing in-character; they may play an adventurous sort like an Indiana Jones, or perhaps an educated sort, like an antiques dealer. (Editor's note: other types of 'hunters are often roleplayers, too...it's not limited to pures.) Simply stated, the Pure T-Hunter has only non-combative, non-defensive skills that are directly related to the Treasure Hunting profession. The Pure T-Hunter will generally have a modicum of Item Identification, and usually Hiding and/or Stealth for defensive measures. Naturally, as one can see, this doesn't leave a lot of skill-room for too many other abilities.

In addition, though the Pure T-Hunter may occasionally "solo" a map (decode, track down, and dig up his/her own purchased or found map), the Pure T-Hunter will generally seek to be hired out by interested parties to dig up their treasure maps. Therefore, the Pure T-Hunter will need to maintain a warm, friendly, and professional manner and have excellent "people skills."

People Skills

People Skills are defined by how an individual interacts with other players in the game. People Skills are therefore not in-game skills; opening the skills window will never have "People" listed. People Skills are quite ambiguous � they don't follow some strict guideline or set of rules. It is the measure of a player's overall nature towards others: how he reacts to people, the respectful manner of speech directed towards others, etc. All in all, the T-Hunter must remember that he is offering his skill set and his time to others in exchange for some sort of payment, and also to give the client an enjoyable time. After all, a large portion of the Pure T-Hunter's income and reputation is based on repeat customers.

The Pure Treasure Hunter's livelihood is strongly influenced by the ways he/she interacts with other people. Whether the Pure T-Hunter decides to hunt his own treasure map, or is hired out to decode and dig up a map for someone else, the Pure T-Hunter needs to be defended by someone else. While Treasure Hunter-Warriors can usually fend for themselves on lower-level hunts, a Pure Treasure-Hunter, having invested all skill points into non-combative skills, is generally more prone to attack. Pure T-Hunters are generally weak (25-30 strength) and don't wear much armor, and are therefore vulnerable to even a Level 1 chest guardian. Therefore, the "Pure" T-Hunter generally hunts maps with other people and therefore needs People Skills.

Enough with what it is! How do I make one?

A capable Pure Treasure Hunter can pretty much be immediately started. A character with starting skills of 50 Detect Hidden and 50 Lockpicking can buy Remove Trap immediately from a thief guildmaster and be well on his way to being able to hire out for a level one treasure chest. (Choose starting statistics of the normal 44str, 11 dex, and 10 int) Of course, a character needs Cartography in order to be able to decode a treasure chest; so, gain start-up funds enough to "buy up" Cartography to as high as it will go from a Mapmaker, and then buy-up the remaining Remove Traps ability from a Thief Guildmaster. (Gaining these start-up funds is left as an exercise for the reader.) Acquire a tattered treasure map that is known to be a Level 1 and start trying to decode it. Your cartography skill may raise as you attempt to decode it. Eventually, you will decode the map, at which time it will become "A Treasure Map." You'll use this map later; keep it in your bank for now so it won't be stolen (you won't gain any further skills from it.) Congratulations! Your Level 1-capable Pure Treasure Hunter is made! (approximate time: 1-3 hours, depending on availability of start-up funds).

The First Hunt

Now that you have a Level-1 T-Hunter, and you've got a decoded map, here's where your People Skills will kick in. You'll need someone to help you go dig up the map, since you wouldn't be able to fight off the headless, ratman, and skeleton chest guardians that will spawn as you liberate the chest of its contents. Of course, you won't need an all-powerful escort, just one who will be willing to fight lesser monsters. (A beginning warrior would be perfect for this role, in fact.) So, stand a city corner and work your charm! Eventually, you'll get someone who would like to go on the hunt, usually for some percentage of the chest's contents. (Level 1chest guardians aren't exactly known for the wealth they carry)

To actually dig up the chest, you'll need a shovel or a pickaxe � they are available at any provisioner or tinker shop. You already have your "newbie" lockpicks; they aren't going anywhere unless you break them. Finally, you need to know exactly where the treasure map is located. With your base-zero level of Mining skill, you need to dig at exactly the point where the treasure chest is located. There are several out-of-game utilities available for use by the treasure hunter to find the chests. Among these are UO AutoMap, a program that basically is a larger, more-complex version of the in-game "radar" map and several web sites which list all known Treasure Chest sites.

Now that you have the exact location of the chest, go there by any means possible. (If it is on an island and neither you nor your escorts have a boat, you'll either need to arrange for a boat or gate to the island or save that map for a later time.) Once at the location, use the pickaxe/shovel and try a spot. You will either immediately hear the digging sound, in which case you'll have found the spot, or you'll see one of several messages:

• "You dig and dig but fail to find any treasure" means you are not digging in the right spot. Move off a couple of tiles in any direction and try again. (if you are using sextant locations, it shouldn't be more than one or two tiles away)
• "You cannot seem to find a treasure chest" (or something similar) means you are very close. Try again just one tile away.
• "You cannot dig here because you are standing on top of the chest!" Just like it sounds. You've found it; you just need to move off one spot and dig where you were just standing.

The chest will normally be hidden by trees, so you'll definitely need your circle of transparency turned on. (If you try to dig without the circle turned on, you might accidentally dig on a tree, which may alter you perception as to where the chest really is.)

After about 15 seconds of digging, the chest will be completely in view and standing there (and you will stop digging.) Since this is a Level 1 chest, you are in no immediate danger from guardians � Chests of Levels 2 and higher will spawn four guardian monsters at all four cardinal directions around the chest, but that's a thought for later. In any case, the chest is now right at your feet, locked, and trapped. You'll need to use your lockpicks on the chest to unlock it. You'll hear a clicking sound and confirming words will appear to let you know the chest is now indeed unlocked. Don't immediately try to open it, though � this is a great time to practice untrapping. Use the Remove Trap skill and then target the chest. One of three things will then happen:

• Total success: Words will appear above the chest saying, "You carefully remove the trigger from the purple potion." The chest is now untrapped and ready to open and loot.
• Partial failure: Words will appear at the bottom left saying, "You breathe a sigh of relief as you fail to remove the trap, but don't set it off."
• Complete failure: An explosion will go off on the chest and you will lose some health. Level 1 chests generally don't cause death, as long as you're in perfect health. If you do die, get used to it � Pure T-hunters die when the wind blows too hard � in other words, a lot. The nearest healer or shrine is never too far�

Now that the chest is unlocked and untrapped (by whatever means and course of fate), it's ready to be looted. Here's where your escort comes in. Each time that an object is removed from the chest (or, for that matter, simply moved around), there is a chance for a guardian to appear by the side of the chest. Try not to hurry in removing the chests' contents; you don't want your escort suddenly swarmed with guardians. Among the Level 1 chest guardians are (in order of difficulty): Mongbats, headlesses, zombies, skeletons, and ratmen. Allow your escort to finish dispatching one guardian before looting again. Eventually, all the contents will be gone, and you will have completed your first treasure hunt as a Pure T-Hunter! If the escort wishes, remind him that more guardians can be 'forced' out of the chest � a reward for more-adventurous escorts.

"Forcing" a chest

There is a secret that many people do not know about (or simply do not care about), and one that many clients of future contracts might wish to know. (Especially on Level 5 chests, where a large percentage of the loot gained from a treasure hunt is actually gleaned from the guardians, and not necessarily from the chest itself! The loot from just one Level five guardian [for example, an elder gazer] may even be in the thousands!). The technique was coined "Forcing," by Marco Le Forge, a member of the Treasure Hunters of Britannia Baja chapter. To force a chest, one simply needs to place an item (the completed treasure map is a great candidate) into the now-empty chest and move the item around inside the chest (from one point to another). This will be the same as removing items from the chest, and will have the effect of spawning more guardians from the chest. There is an upper limit to the number of guardians spawned, though; a single treasure chest will spawn anywhere from five to fifteen guardians in total, including the initial spawn. The luckier clients may even find another treasure map on the guardians themselves, doubling the profit margin for all involved!

Hunting Practice

You've successfully finished your first treasure hunt. You have a good deal of cash after splitting the profits with your escort. What now? Get back to the city and try and buy another Level 1 map! Keep doing maps until you are comfortable with your system; learn the time involved in completing a map from decoding to return back to a safe location, etc. If you haven't yet, get familiar with all the islands and dense locations of the treasure maps. Do around five hunts to become accustomed to the system (and maybe get enough cash to buy a small boat). After you've become familiar with the duties involved, it's time to hire out for your first contract!

The First Hire

As a first-time T-Hunter for hire, you will first want to decide what you will charge for doing a hunt. Typical fees of T-Hunters-for-hire are half the gold in the chest, or all the gems in the chest, or half gold plus a share of guardian loot, etc. You decide what you want to charge (remember that a Level 1 chest doesn't really contain all that much, and the guardians' wealth won't make anyone rich, so charge accordingly) and stick with that price.

Now, once again, stand at a city corner spouting your wares! State that you're a fresh Treasure Hunter hiring out to do Level 1 hunts. Eventually, you will get a client who will want you to do their map for them. Voila'! You're hired!

You'll want to decide up-front with your client as to who loots the chest (yourself or the client), what the fees are, when you are to be paid, who will arrange for the travel (where the boat comes in) and so forth. Be courteous, friendly, and decisive when negotiating the agreement; no one likes to deal with a wishy-washy or indecisive solicitor.

Once all the terms have been agreed upon, decode their map and go out and dig up their chest! It's that easy! Continue to role-play your character throughout the adventure; a T-Hunt is in essence, a minor quest in which you are the "Seer." The first hire is generally the one that will be most memorable to your clients, so do make sure you make it a good one! Also, remember to bring your pickaxe/shovel, your lockpicks, and your sextant! The last thing you want to do is realize you don't have one of your necessary pieces of equipment and tell the client you need to go back for something.

Skill Advancement

There will come a point where you will desire to be able to dig up higher-level treasure maps. (Indeed, this point may be almost instantaneous). In that case, refer to the following chart as to what you will need to be able to tackle higher-level maps:

* Note: The requirement of Detect Hidden for level five chests is thus far just a rumor. A level-five chest can be picked just fine with grandmaster lockpicking and 0.0 base detect. However, who knows what OSI has up their sleeves for the future � it may be a requirement in the future. Of course, a 50.0 base detect is required to be able to train remove trap, so for the Pure T-Hunter, Detect of 50 minimum is a requirement.

This section, therefore, describes possible paths to advancement in these four Treasure Hunter skills.

Increasing Cartography

The absolute base skill for the Pure Treasure Hunter is the cartography skill. Without it, the cartographer cannot decode the higher-level tattered maps, and can thus not dig them up. Cartography is by far the most strenuous, patience-taxing skill to advance to higher levels.

There is no "easy path to success" for the advancement of Cartography. To increase, the would-be cartographer needs to draw maps, maps, and more maps. To draw a map, use the cartography skill gump (or an associated keyboard macro), then single-click either any store-bought map, blank or otherwise (for example, a map labeled "A map of Buccaneer's Den" or "A map of Vesper to Minoc" will work just as well as a blank map.) You are presented with four options: Detailed, Area, Sea, and World. You will make the same amount of gains selecting any of these maps, but you will most-likely wish to select detailed maps; why, will be explained in a moment. So, get cracking � buy as many cheaper maps from any mapmaker in Britannia as you can afford, then overwrite them. (Note, you cannot overwrite maps you've already written upon, nor can you overwrite treasure maps.) Eventually, you will run out of maps and be holding a backpackful of detailed maps. Time to sell 'em back!

Try to sell the maps back to the vendor from whom you bought them. If you can sell them all back, consider yourself lucky; Britannia's mapmakers are notorious for running out of money. You may have to resort to selling five back, buying five more, selling five more, and so on. What's nice about selling maps back (when you are able to), is that the mapmaker "spawns" one blank map for every map you sell to him/her. You'll be able to buy blank maps by the bucketloads. Do so, then make them detailed, sell back, lather, rinse, repeat. Did I mention that this is tedious? It is highly recommended that you do something else at the same time as you do Cartography, so that you aren't boring yourself into a lesser level of sanity. Lockpicking is perfect for this fact.

It has been suggested that later on, once you have reached Master level in Cartography, that better gains are made when one World map is made for every five or six detailed maps. Also suggested was to hire out and go do a level three or so map, to "reset the gains counters" on the server. Be warned! Gaining in Cartography past 90 or so is VERY tedious! It is only the most persistent Treasure Hunter that can reach Grandmaster in Cartography. Good luck!

Increasing Lockpicking

The second-most important skill in the Cartographer's arsenal is the Lockpicking skill. When the chest is dug up, it is both locked and trapped (see Increasing Remove Trap). It is to be expected that you will be able to unlock this chest for your clients. Advancing Lockpicking isn't as boring or tedious as is the advancement of Cartography, but it is certainly a tedium all by itself. All it requires is a large pile of lockpicks (around 700 or so), a few player-made lockables, and a good pair of gloves.

To increase your lockpicking skill, you need to pick locks. Which locks to pick, however, is different at different current levels of ability. Refer to the following chart for which lockables you should choose to practice. (Note that your gains will become more frequent if you are wearing a high-armored pair of gloves. If you can't wear plate, then go for a magical set of the next-higher-armored pair. The best possible pair of gloves to use for practicing is a pair of plate gloves of invulnerability; my character reached grandmaster simply by practicing while wearing a pair of studded gloves of invulnerability.)

To practice, simply lock the practice-lockable, then use your pile of lockpicks on the same chest. Increases in lockpicking skill tend to come in flurries, so don't be surprised if you wait a long time without an increase and then gain several times within a short period. It is recommended that you practice lockpicking while you're practicing your cartography, so you can break the monotony of both. Best of luck, future Grandmaster Locksmith!

Increasing Remove Trap

Advancing the Remove Trap skill is perilous at best. It will require a willingness to die many, many times, for the only way to reached an advanced level in Remove Trap is to practice removing traps. While practicing remove traps, it is a given that you will fail. When you fail, you will most likely die, especially if you've decided to gain in Remove Trap after gaining your other two main skills, Cartography (which increases a lot of intelligence), and Lockpicking (which increases a lot of dexterity.) At 25 strength, even a dart trap made by the lowliest trap-making tinker (at mid-Apprentice level) has a high chance of killing you outright from failure. You will need to make friends with several tinkers in order to practice this skill.

To practice removing traps, you will need about 10 boxes, a lot of ingots and an equal number of bolts with which a tinker may trap boxes. When you and your tinker friend are ready to practice, take with you the 10 strongboxes, along with 50 ingots and 50 bolts, and trek to a city healer. You don't want too many more than 50 ingots and/or bolts, because you don't want to become a target for thieves and/or opportunistic looters. Give the equipment to your tinker friend, and ask them to trap the boxes with dart traps. Then, have your tinker friend give them back to you. Start practicing! Select the remove trap gump (or associated macro) and click one of the trapped boxes. If you fail and die, the healers will resurrect you immediately; dying from failing at untrapping is not considered a crime in Britannia, nor does the tinker receive a criminal flag. Grab the boxes off your corpse and start back to work. Eventually, you will have untrapped all 10 boxes; have the tinker trap them again, and so on. WARNING! BE CAREFUL: actually opening a box before it's untrapped will make the tinker a criminal for two minutes! Be *sure* the box is untrapped if you decide to open it!

The rule of thumb for best gains during practice is to attempt to remove the trap of a tinker who is 10% within your skill range at any point. (i.e., if you have a remove trap ability of 70, attempt to remove the trap of a box tinkered by a person with 60-80 skill level.)

Otherwise, refer to the following chart for the best gains in Remove Trap:

Author's note: I repeat and stress that you will die a lot. I remember leaving so many Ferret bodies in the healers that a person could walk from door to wall in the healer's stepping on Ferret bodies and without ever actually stepping on the ground. *chuckle* Of course, it was immediately assumed I was a thief, but people were always confused by the fact that the bodies were always blue!!!

A nice thing to note for a grandmaster remove trapper is that there is no dungeon trap that can harm you. A T-hunter with GM in Lockpicking and Remove Trap can run down into a dungeon for easy money, as all the dungeon's chests are yours to enjoy.

Second Author's Note: Remove trap is also a lot of fun to use in-town. Not a day goes by when I don't see some individual dropping crates and chests on the ground in town � always trapped, of course. Normally, these are trapped by less than a Master-level tinker; very seldom will a Grandmaster in Remove Trap be harmed at all by this level of trap. Watching the endless exasperation of these in-town trappers as Ferret runs behind them, untrapping all their chests has given my T-Hunter much amusement!

Increasing Detect Hidden

After those three tough-to-gain skills, it is nice to have a skill in which it is extraordinarily easy to gain advancement � this easy skill to gain is that of Detect Hidden. Fortunately, if you decide to gain this last, you already have the tinker friend required. You will need an Expert-level tinker friend, around 30 or so wooden boxes/crates and materials enough to trap all but one of the boxes, a boat (or are friended to a house, if you are lucky enough), and an axe. Have the tinker trap all but one of the boxes. Place all trapped boxes inside the untrapped box. Take this package to your boat or house, and drop it on the ground. Chop it up with an axe; you will be left with all the boxes sitting in one place. Start using the detect hidden skill and clicking right next to this pile of chests. The gains will be amazing.

Author's note: I've heard from a guildmate that he had reached grandmaster in Detect Hidden by using this technique in a matter of four or five hours, from starting-skill (50) level!

Complementary Skills

Complementary skills are those in which the Pure Treasure Hunter may advance to give him a more desirable quality for hiring, or for survival. Among these skills may be Hiding (and Stealth, if chosen), Item Identification, Magery (enough for Recall or even Gate Travel, if desired), Tinkering (to make lockpicks or shovels or to trap your own chests), and Mining. [Note: Mining is supposedly a requirement for Treasure Hunting, but the use of UOAM and other treasure hunting site archives has made the mining requirement obsolete.] The increase of these skills is left as an exercise to the reader.

Summary

This document contains a guideline of the creation, advancement, and play of the Pure Treasure Hunter. It contains techniques I have found useful for the advancement and play of a Treasure Hunter. I hope this information proves to be useful to the reader of this essay, and am always happy to see another member of the Treasure Hunting community.

The Ferret of Baja,
Treasure Hunters of Britannia (Baja Chapter)
[email protected]

Appendix: Technique for Survival During Higher-Level Chest Hunts

The hardest trick for a treasure hunter to learn is how to survive the guardian spawn on the higher-level treasure hunts. On chests of level two or higher, four guardians spawn around the chest one tile away in all four cardinal directions. The guardians will generally attack the digger, which is of course, the treasure hunter. (And 25 strength and 4 armor will most-likely not stand up to the blow of an ogre lord or daemon!!)

To survive the initial attack, one simply needs to not be there when the guardians appear. Or rather, to make the guardians think you're not there. To do this, one either needs the hiding skill, or an item of invisibility.

This technique will probably require a few times to get just right, as the timing needs to be quite precise, and is very difficult on a lagged connection. When digging up the chest, notice that the chest goes through a series of phases of visibility. At first, a small patch of dirt appears. Later, the patch becomes a rectangular shape. Soon, one corner of the chest appears, then a little more, then the chest appears almost fully, then the chest is out of the ground. So, there are four phases of the chest appearing. Once the corner appears, start counting phases including that one. Once you reach three, pause for just a fraction of a second (try to time it exactly halfway between phases), and then either use your invisibility item, or attempt your hiding skill. If done right, you should disappear just before the guardians appear. You will be hidden, and the guardians will attack those who are more suitably prepared for such an assault (namely, your clients or escorts.)

Practice this technique well. It will save your life a great number of times.